在讀原版書學英文的幾點建議這篇文章中我提到我們在讀一本書之前要了解一下作者和作品背景及類型，這樣可以幫助我們「以正確的姿勢」閱讀。
How to Read a Book中提到了我們在讀一本書前（這裡的讀指的是analytical reading）, 我們要進行inspectional reading，主要看這樣幾個地方 -- 這一招可以用來選書：
讀英文書的正確姿勢
這裡的publisher's blurb是什麼呢? 動手查一下字典。
Wikipedia上是這樣解釋的：
A blurb on a book can be any combination of quotes from the work, the author, the publisher, reviewers or fans, a summary of the plot, a biography of the author or simply claims about the importance of the work.
看到這裡應該明白了，這個blurb就是一本書中的「大神推薦」 「書中的金句名言」 「情節和作者簡介」及一些與這本書的相關信息。
我們拿到一本書，要先看看它的blurb，一般情況下就能判斷出這本書的含金量了。這些blurb主要起的作用是介紹和宣傳，因此它的語言一般都很準確、精煉、多樣化，我們可以從中學一些英文。
It is not uncommon for authors to try to summarize as accurately as they can the main points in their book. These efforts should not go unnoticed. Of course, if the blurb is nothing but a puff for the book, you will ordinarily be able to discover this at a glance. But that in itself can tell you something about the work. Perhaps the book does not say anything of importance—and that is why the blurb does not say anything, either.
1.
例如我之前讀了一本Penguin Book's的Why I Write，它背部封頁上就有這樣一段話：
Through history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now PENGUIN brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visonaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.
我把這段話中的一些動詞標記了出來，你看這些詞的層次和節奏多好 -- 從change, transform 到inspire, enligtened, 最後是enrich，shake。書的力量是什麼？我想看著這些動詞就有答案了。
除了出版社自己的廣告外，還有對這本書的一個整體評價：
Whether puncturing the lies of politicians, wittly dissecting the English character or telling unpalatable truths about war, Orwell's timeless, uncompromising essays are more relevant, entertaining and essential than ever in today's era of spin.
我們從這段話中就能學到puncture the lies, dissect character，這兩個動詞用的很有畫面感。還有用unpalatable形容truth，用timeless, uncompromising形容文章，這都是值得我們收藏、佔為己有的表達 -- 例如我們形容魯迅先生的文章就可以用到這些詞。
2.
這個月讀書群要讀的第二本書是毛姆的The Razor's Edge, 這本書背部的封頁上就有對小說情節以及作者的介紹。
W. Somerset Maugham's greatest and most enduringly popular novel tells the story of Larry Darrell, an attractive and enigmatic American who forsakes the comforts of bourgeois society to live a life dedicated to the pursuit of truth and meaning. Larry's former fiancée is the beautiful and vivacious Isabel Maturin, who is struggling to maintain a family nearly destroyed by the Depression. He is also attracted to the lost, wanton Sophie Macdonald whose life he attempts to save from its downward spiral. In the midst of the drama stands Elliott Templeton, the irresistibly lovable arch-snob with a heart of gold—perhaps Maugham's greatest fictional creation. Spanning three continents and nearly half a century, The Razor's Edge marks the culmination of Maugham's storytelling craft. It is a deeply affecting, enormously readable classic that continues to draw readers of every generation.
這段情節可以幫助我們對故事內容有所了解外，我們還可以學到很多形容人的表達，除了形容一個人beautiful, attractive，我們也可以用enigmatic, vivacious。
最後的the culmination of也是一個值得收藏的表達，《經濟學人》中就經常可以看到：
善用搜索可以加深對這個詞的印象
3.
我們可以在讀者/大神推薦中學一學如何誇人 -- 從這些溢美之詞中我們學學精準的「換詞」，哪怕是同義詞也會有細微的不同的（感情色彩、節奏、語境等）。
例如這本Nicholas Sparks的 The Notebook:
這裡我們就學到了描述愛情故事的幾個詞: tearjerk, poignant, sweetly sentimental, irrepressively romantic，這樣我們除了用touching之外就有了更多的選擇了。
另外我們學到了resonate with這個表達，表示「引起共鳴」；還見到了jade這個詞的熟詞生義：
在The Fault in Our Star中是這樣的：
來誇這個作品，其中有人用到了tour de force，這個詞多有逼格！例如你看到了一篇寫的非常好的文章，就可以留言給他：A tour de force!
4.
寫這篇文章是想和大家分享：語言學習材料無處不在。除了書中這些容易被忽略的地方外，我們也可以留意一下包裝袋上的、廣告牌上的、購物網站上的英文。我的一位朋友(Justin)就分享過「咖啡袋上的廣告」, 以下是他曾經的分享：
Caribou Coffee包裝袋上的英文就是這樣的：簡單的單詞、簡短的句子、生動精巧的動詞等William Zinsser提到的英文寫作基本原則都體現得很到位。不僅如此，這些風格也很好地體現了Caribou Coffee的自信和成熟；圖案、字體、略寫、問號等簡單的細節則傳遞著想和顧客交流的真誠和活潑的企業文化。
Our beans travel the globe. We make sure their trip wasn't in vain.
We search the world. We meet the growers. We choose only the finest beans from the best harvests and bring them home. And then the real fun begins; our Roast masters map out a roast profile for each coffee. They tweak and refine along the way to coax the best flavors from each bean. Obsessive? Yes. Fanatical? Probably. But life's too short for ordinary coffee.
試一試，下一次就寫這麼簡單的英文。
英文外來語之「關係、人情和面子」
怎樣才能去經濟學人當記者？
從簡單的材料中學一些地道的英文
上面截圖的詞典來自柯林斯雙解，我把我常用的10幾個詞庫放在了網盤中，要用的話請點看《斯坦福監獄實驗》學點英文這篇文章的底部。